Thursday News Threads

It’sbeenverified: The Crocodile Cafe is reopening! Construction’s underway for the return of the Croc in late January or early February of next year, with new investors (including the manager and drummer of Alice in Chains — Susan Silver and Sean Kinney, respectively) and a brand new look. In an interview with Hannah Levin, Croc PR rep Kerri Harrop reports that while “there will definitely be a nod and acknowledgment to the past”, she says “the space is being completely overhauled for better sight-lines in the room and to maximize the sound potential in that room.” Music fans in Seattle, still mourning the venue’s closure in late 2007, are now celebrating between collective sighsof relief if not shouts of elation.

Wrestling the likes of Radiohead and British Sea Power, Manchester-based Elbow finally pinned the Mercury Prize down for best British album of the last year. Elbow’s fourth studio album, The Seldom Seen Kid, took the prize 18 years after the band was formed and 7 years after its first Mercury Prize nomination. According to singer Guy Garvey, “this is quite literally the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

The most important election to occur in 2008 is happening right now: Oklahma has opened voting for Official State of Oklahoma Rock Song. Any song written or performed by an Oklahoman is eligible — and there are, apparently, quite a few of them. The ten finalists include the Flaming Lips, Wanda Jackson, Elvis Presley, and All-American Rejects.

Sonic Youth has returned to the independents: After winding down its contract with Universal, the band has joined Belle & Sebastian, Cat Power, and the rest over at Matador Records, which promptly announced it would be releasing a new Sonic Youth studio album in 2009.